20th August 1940-The bombing of Newton Abbot Station

My mother,sister and a few evacuees were at the bottom of Forde Road, near what is now known as Newton Quay, picking blackberries when we heard the noise of aircraft, I remember my mother shouting "duck, get down, they are Germans" we all fell to the ground and there was a terrible noise of machine gun fire, bombs falling on the station, and my sister crying hysterically "they're bombing daddy, oh,daddy" My father worked in the workshops at the Railway, he was also a St.Johns Ambulance man.We learned later that he was called out to the platform to help attend the wounded. We lived in Forde Road, and our house was badly damaged, when we arrived home we could not find our grandmother who lived with us, she eventually appeared from the cupboard under the stairs. This occasion changed the course of my life completely. Because of the damage to the house which was a terraced house and a lavatory in the back yard, we were able to move the a brand new house, which the builder was allowed to complete to re-house families needing to be re-homed, this was a semi-detached, with a bathroom and a beautiful long garden with a stream running through it. We grew watercress and on a Sunday we had watercress sandwiches for tea.

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